Kire stared down at the world gate. It was smaller than she had expected, but she knew it was no less dangerous. Before the brightness could burn into her eyes she looked away, at Ysaryn, to see if she was alright. Narda let her go, shaking her head as the elf vomited. “This one’s feisty. Could give you a run for your money, Wyvernling.”
Kire smiled briefly at that, before turning her attention to Ruli, frowning again as he examined his arm. She squinted at the injury, touched his arm as she observed it. “Fuck.” She clicked her tongue, lips pursed before she looked up at him when he asked his question. “I don’t know. But I’m more worried about other things.” She looked pointedly at him. No doubt more than just a drop of his blood had spilled onto the ground. “Don’t go down there. Any of you. I’ll check on it, see if there’s a way to close it from this side. If anything changes, get out. I mean it,” she said, seeing the objection in the Amrians’ eyes. 

She turned her back to them, already halfway down the slope when the portal flashed blue. “Kire, stay back!” Ed yelled behind her, sliding down to go after her. But the portal had already grown bigger, and the swirling blue light grew more violent in its movements. 
“Turn back! Now!” Kire yelled, but at that point she had been engulfed by the brightness. It felt like her portals, only this time she could feel her own body being yanked through a large windswept passageway, rather than her whole being dissolving as it squeezed her through a whirlwind tunnel. She screamed, but she couldn’t hear it over the thunder of portal energies sweeping around her. She closed her eyes, hanging onto consciousness, until at last she felt her body thud and skip through soil. She heard her sword clanking onto the ground.

It was mid-day, wherever she was. Kire was panting heavily, one arm shielding her face. After catching her breath, she clambered onto all fours, then stood on shaky legs. [i]What is that sound?[/i] She felt the ground shaken by thunder, until her mind finally caught up to what she was hearing. [i]Horses.[/i] Kire whirled around, expecting to see her companions but instead came face to face with an army. Her army. [i]Amria, thank the gods.[/i] They were surrounded by a mountain range; on the other side of that, and two weeks’ ride south, was the occupied Capital.

The soldiers, upon drawing near, took one look at their empress and halted, orders barked down the line. They were in borderlands, she knew; this was one of the demarcation zones between occupied Gemini lands and the ones the Wyvern empire controlled. Immediately the officers disembarked and knelt. “[i]Your Grace, we didn’t expect you back so soon for your rounds, forgive us,[/i]” one of them said. “Do you need a tour of camp? Have our plans to hold the line and patrol changed?”
“I wasn’t here by design. I got called here by Gemini magic,” she said, looking around still for any sign of them, as if expecting Ysaryn or Ruli to shadow-walk the rest of their party to her. She swallowed the panic that threatened to rise inside her [i]I can’t lose Ed again. I can’t lose any of them.[/i] Gods forbid any of them ended up behind enemy lines. “I need your help. I’m missing five companions. Two are Amria: Lady Narda the Countess of Wild Meadows, some of you have seen her with me. Giantess, hard to miss. The other you should be familiar with. Lord Edward.”
She knew this would be a surprise to them, but she didn’t have time to explain now. One of the lieutenants offered a place for her on his steed, and Kire took it. “The other three are strangers to Amria, which is why finding them is paramount. Relay the word along to our forces down the valley. My estimate would be that they might have landed anywhere within two miles of here, give or take a few. We need to hurry.” She hoped it was two miles; the world gate was clearly unstable. 
“One more thing. If you see a bright blue light, keep your men away!”
--

Ed knew how this had felt before. Once. The winds that seemed to sear and tear at his flesh, the blinding light, and, finally, the sensation of being spat out onto the ground. Only this time, it seemed he had landed on somewhere wet. He found himself in a forest, but this one at least smelled normal. Alive. Decaying forest detritus without the rot of blood magic permeating it. Something else, too, pulled at his senses. As he stood up, checking to make sure he hadn’t broken anything, it began to sink in. He had been to this forest before. He looked up to see the end of a mountain range and he recognized its peaks. “[i]I’m home,[/i]” he breathed, his heart thudding in his chest so much he thought it would burst. His eyes grew wet with tears. 

He would celebrate later. Right now, he needed to find the others. Things had changed a lot during his nine months away, and he didn’t want to risk getting stranded for too long somewhere that was occupied Gemini territory by accident. He heard a rustling behind him, and he immediately picked up his sword, readying himself for either friend or foe. 


--

Narda had been knocked back by a blast of energy from the portal, almost rolling down the slope from where they had just come. “Kay! Ed!” The giantess coughed as she struggled to her feet. Gods, it felt like a blast of fire; she was surprised to find herself whole, without burn marks. [i]Gods-be-damned magic![/i] She looked around wildly and found she was alone, save for Zeke. “No…” She scrambled back up the hill and looked down. She didn’t like what she saw. No Kire, No Ed. No Ruli or Ysaryn either. Even the gate had disappeared, and the area around it looked scorched. Narda growled, then saw something at the epicenter where the gate had been. Amrian runes branded onto the ground, shining faintly blue, forming a rune circle. 

She looked back at Zeke. “Are you hurt?” she asked. “I have a feeling I know where they are. The portal must have taken them back to Amria.” Her face looked grim, pointing to the runes. “We’ll have to break that circle, I surmise. Before that portal flairs up again. If they’re in Amria, Kire can find them, but this world gate shouldn’t be opened on this side again.”  Around them, the haunted thicket looked deader to her somehow, as if the portal had leeched what twisted life was in them.